Air cleaner

ABSTRACT

An air cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a housing including a suction portion through which external air is suctioned and a discharge portion through which the suctioned air is discharged; a filter disposed between the suction portion and the discharge portion and configured to purify the suctioned air; a gas pump connected with the discharge portion and configured to rotate so as to discharge the air purified by the filter to the discharge portion and a controller configured to control a rotation direction of the gas pump, wherein the gas pump includes a rotor including a gas pump base disk disposed in and rotatably supported by the housing, a gas pump disk array in which segment disks having an open center area are disposed on the gas pump base disk to be spaced apart from each other, and a rotor magnet installed on the gas pump base disk and a stator including a stator coil disposed in the housing and installed to face the rotor magnet.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an air cleaner, and more specifically, to an air cleaner including dehumidification and humidification functions.

BACKGROUND ART

All conventional commercialized air cleaners and dehumidifiers circulate air using a method of a rotating Sikorsky or propeller, and thus noise generated when a Sikorsky blade or a propeller blade collides with air is unavoidable.

Since some dehumidifiers do not have an air circulation function to avoid generation of noise but do not forcibly circulate humidity in the air, dehumidification efficiency is too low, and thus commercialization of most of such dehumidifiers have failed.

Further, some heating-type humidifiers do not include an air blower but have very low humidification efficiency, and an ultrasonic humidifier that essentially requires an air blower has a serious problem of generating an air blowing noise.

Technical Problem

The present invention is directed to providing an air cleaner having humidification and dehumidification functions and having a low noise level due to rotating a disk without a blade.

Technical Solution

One aspect of the present invention provides an air cleaner which includes a housing including a suction portion through which external air is suctioned and a discharge portion through which the suctioned air is discharged, a filter disposed between the suction portion and the discharge portion and configured to purify the suctioned air, a gas pump connected with the discharge portion and configured to rotate so as to discharge the air purified by the filter to the discharge portion, and a controller configured to control a rotation direction of the gas pump, wherein the gas pump includes a rotor including a gas pump base disk disposed in and rotatably supported by the housing, a gas pump disk array in which segment disks having an open center area are disposed on the gas pump base disk to be spaced apart from each other, and a rotor magnet installed on the gas pump base disk, and a stator including a stator coil disposed in the housing and installed to face the rotor magnet.

The air cleaner may further include a water tank configured to store water and a liquid pump connected with the same rotating shaft as the gas pump to be rotated in the same direction as the gas pump and configured to suction the water from the water tank and spray the water onto the disk array when the gas pump rotates in a forward direction and not to spray the water onto the disk array when the gas pump rotates in a reverse direction.

The liquid pump may include a liquid pump housing including an outlet formed to face a forward rotation direction of the gas pump, a liquid pump base disk disposed in the liquid pump housing and connected with the same shaft as the gas pump to be rotatably supported by the liquid pump housing, and a liquid pump disk array in which segment disks spaced apart from each other and having an open center area are stacked on the liquid pump base disk.

The air cleaner may further include a sensor configured to measure a temperature or humidity of external air, and the controller may be operated in a humidification mode in which air with a high moisture content is discharged by rotating the gas pump in the forward direction when the humidity of external air measured by the sensor is lower than a predetermined humidity range and may be operated in a dehumidification mode in which air with a low moisture content is discharged by rotating the gas pump in the reverse direction when the humidity of external air measured by the sensor is higher than a predetermined humidity range. Further, the controller may operate the gas pump by measuring relative humidity according to temperature.

The air cleaner may further include a cooling element disposed between the suction portion and the discharge portion and configured to cool moisture in the air being suctioned or heat the cooled moisture according to a direction of a current flow applied from the controller.

The air cleaner may further include a dew condensation sensor configured to measure a freezing level of dew formed in the cooling element, and the controller may be configured to freeze moisture in the air by allowing a current to flow to the cooling element in a forward direction when the freezing level measured by the dew condensation sensor is lower than a predetermined freezing level and re-melt the frozen moisture by allowing a current to flow to the cooling element in a reverse direction when the freezing level measured by the dew condensation sensor is higher than the predetermined freezing level.

The air cleaner may further include a sterilizing part connected with the water tank or the cooling element and configured to sterilize water by electrolyzing the water in the water tank or the cooling element.

The air cleaner may further include a water turbidity sensor configured to measure a pollution level of the water tank or the cooling element, and the controller may operate the sterilizing part when turbidity measured by the water turbidity sensor is higher than a predetermined turbidity.

Advantageous Effects

An air cleaner according to one embodiment of the present invention can purify and circulate air while noise is virtually not generated.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an air cleaner according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the air cleaner shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view in which an inner portion of the air cleaner shown in FIG. 1 is exploded.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a rotor shown in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are operation views of a liquid pump shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing control of a controller.

MODES OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention that are easily performed by those skilled in the art will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in several different forms and are not limited to the embodiments described herein.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an air cleaner according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the air cleaner shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view in which an inner portion of the air cleaner shown in FIG. 1 is exploded, FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a rotor shown in FIG. 2, FIGS. 5 and 6 are operation views of a liquid pump shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing control of a controller.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 7, an air cleaner 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention may purify polluted external air using a brushless direct current (BLDC) motor without noise, have a humidification function of increasing humidity and a dehumidification function of decreasing humidity according to humidity of the outside, and include a housing 101, a filter 110, a gas pump 120, a water tank 130, a liquid pump 140, a cooling element 150, a sensor 160, and a controller 170.

The housing 101 includes a suction portion 101 a which suctions external air and a discharge portion 101 b which discharges the suctioned air. An inner space of the housing 101 is divided into an intake chamber communicating with the suction portion 101 a and an exhaust chamber communicating with the discharge portion 101 b, and the intake chamber connects with the exhaust chamber by using an open center area of a gas pump disk array. As shown in the drawing, an external shape of the housing 101 may be a rectangular parallelepiped shape but is not limited thereto and may be a cylindrical shape. The housing 101 may be manufactured by injection-molding plastic or by press-processing metal.

The filter 110 is disposed between the suction portion 101 a and the discharge portion 101 b in the housing 101 and purifies air by removing foreign materials in the air suctioned by the suction portion 101 a.

The filter 110 may include, for example, a first filter 110 for removing large-sized dust by filtering predetermined-sized dust and a second filter 110 for removing small-sized dust by collecting dust using an anion by plasma discharge.

The gas pump 120 is disposed in the housing 101, suctions the air purified by the filter 110 and discharges the purified air to the discharge portion 101 b of the housing 101, and includes a rotor 121 in which a rotor magnet 121 c is installed and a stator 122 including a stator coil 122 a to which a current is applied by an interaction to rotate the rotor 121.

The rotor 121 includes a gas pump base disk 121 a, a gas pump disk array with a plurality of gas pump segment disks 121 b, a spacer (not shown), and the rotor magnet 121 c. The gas pump base disk 121 a is rotatably fixed to a rotating shaft and is rotated by an action with the stator coil 122 a to which the current is applied from an external power source. For example, the gas pump base disk 121 a may be rotated in a range of about 10,000 to 15,000 rotations per minute. However, the rotation number of the gas pump base disk 121 a is not limited thereto and may vary depending on a size of the gas pump base disk 121 a.

The gas pump disk array includes a plurality of gas pump segment disks 121 b spaced apart from each other and stacked on the gas pump base disk 121 a in predetermined distances. The gas pump segment disks 121 b have an open center area, and external air is suctioned into the center area when the gas pump segment disks 121 b are rotated.

Further, for example, the gas pump disk array may be spaced apart by a spacer (not shown) disposed between the gas pump segment disks 121 b. The gas pump segment disks 121 b are spaced apart from each other to have a space formed therebetween, and centrifugal force and a boundary layer drag effect are applied to air accommodated in each space between the gas pump segment disks 121 b when the gas pump base disk 121 a rotates, and thus the air is moved in an outer direction.

Each of the gas pump segment disks 121 b may be fixed to an adjacent gas pump segment disk 121 b and the gas pump base disk 121 a by a fixing unit 121 d such as a bolt.

The gas pump segment disk 121 b may have a curved end portion so that gas is easily suctioned or discharged. However, the end portion of the gas pump segment disk 121 b is not limited thereto and may be formed to be angular at a right angle.

In this case, the gas pump base disk 121 a and the gas pump segment disk 121 b may include a corrosion-resistant material or a specially coated material.

The rotor magnet 121 c is installed in the rotor 121 to interact with the stator coil 122 a and, for example, may be installed in the gas pump base disk 121 a. In this case, the rotor magnet 121 c may be a permanent magnet but is not limited thereto and may be formed of an electromagnet.

The stator 122 is disposed in the housing 101 and includes the stator coil 122 a interacting with the rotor magnet 121 c. The stator coil 122 a may be formed on a surface facing the rotor magnet 121 c, and power may be applied to the stator coil 122 a.

In this case, the gas pump 120 may use a commercialized BLDC motor with rotating shafts formed on both sides of the commercialized BLDC motor.

The water tank 130 is connected with the housing 101 and includes an inner space in which water is stored. The water tank 130 is connected with the liquid pump 140 and may supply the water to the liquid pump 140 when the liquid pump 140 rotates.

Further, the water tank 130 is connected with the cooling element 150 through a tube 144 and the like and may store liquid generated when water frozen in the cooling element 150 is melted.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, the liquid pump 140 is connected with the rotating shaft of the gas pump 120 to be rotated in the same direction as the gas pump 120, and may discharge or may not discharge water according to a rotation direction.

The liquid pump 140 includes a liquid pump housing 141, a liquid pump base disk 142, and a liquid pump segment disk 143. The liquid pump housing 141 includes an outlet 141 a formed in the same direction as a forward rotation direction of the gas pump 120 and discharges water in a direction F1 when the gas pump 120 rotates in a forward direction and suctions air in a reverse direction F2 when the gas pump 120 rotates in a reverse direction so that the water is not discharged. For example, the outlet may be connected with the tube 144 for spraying water onto the gas pump disk array such that the water discharged from the liquid pump 140 is sprayed onto the gas pump disk array.

The liquid pump base disk 142 is connected with the rotating shaft to rotate in the same direction of the gas pump base disk 121 a. The plurality of liquid pump segment disks 143 spaced apart from each other are stacked on the liquid pump base disk 142 to form a disk array of the liquid pump 140. The liquid pump segment disk 143 has an open center area connected with the water tank 130 and suctions water stored in the water tank 130 into the center area when the liquid pump segment disk 143 rotates.

Further, for example, the liquid pump segment disks 143 may be spaced apart from each other by a distance of 1 mm by a spacer (not shown) disposed between the liquid pump segment disks 143. The liquid pump segment disks 143 are spaced apart from each other to form a space, and centrifugal force and a boundary layer drag effect are applied to air in each space between the liquid pump segment disks 143 when the liquid pump base disk 142 rotates, and thus the air is moved in an outer direction. Further, there is no blade, and thus noise generation can be minimized.

Each of liquid pump segment disks 143 may be fixed to an adjacent liquid pump segment disk 143 and a liquid pump base disk 142 by a fixing unit such as a bolt.

The cooling element 150 is disposed between the intake chamber and the exhaust chamber and cools and freezes moisture in the suctioned air so as to reduce humidity. The cooling element 150 absorbs or generates heat using a Peltier effect in which heat is absorbed or generated by a current. Since the cooling element 150 can convert between heat absorption and heat generation according to a direction of a current flow, the moisture in the suctioned air may be frozen, and the frozen moisture is re-melted, and thus the water may be transferred to the water tank 130 in a liquid state.

For example, the cooling element 150 is formed in a funnel shape with an open center area, and thus the purified and dehumidified air may pass through the open area.

The sensor 160 may include a humidity sensor for measuring humidity of external air, a temperature sensor measuring a temperature of external air, and a pollution level sensor for measuring a pollution level of external air. The sensor 160 measures the humidity, temperature, and pollution level of external air and transfers the measured values to the controller 170.

The controller 170 may turn the gas pump 120 on or off according to the humidity, temperature, and pollution level of external air or may change a rotation direction of the gas pump 120.

For example, the controller 170 is operated in a humidification mode in which the gas pump 120 rotates in a forward direction when the humidity of external air measured by the humidity sensor is lower than a humidity range preset in the controller 170. The gas pump 120 discharges gas regardless of rotation direction, and thus the gas pump 120 discharges the purified air. In this case, when the gas pump 120 rotates in a forward direction, the liquid pump 140 connected with the same rotating shaft as the gas pump 120 also rotates in a forward direction. When the liquid pump 140 rotates in a forward direction, the water in water tank 130 is suctioned and discharged to an outlet of the liquid pump housing 141, and thus the water is sprayed onto the gas pump disk array through the tube 144 connected with the outlet. Therefore, the gas pump 120 discharges high humidity air including the sprayed super fine particle water drop, and thus a humidification effect is provided.

For another example, when the humidity of external air measured by the humidity sensor is higher than a humidity range preset in the controller 170, the controller 170 is operated in a dehumidification mode in which the gas pump 120 rotates in a reverse direction. Since the gas pump 120 discharges gas regardless of rotation direction, the gas pump 120 discharges the purified air. In this case, when the gas pump 120 rotates in a reverse direction, the liquid pump 140 connected with the same rotating shaft as the gas pump 120 also rotates in a reverse direction. When the liquid pump 140 rotates in a reverse direction, a direction of an outlet of the liquid pump housing 141 is different from a direction of a rotation outlet of the liquid pump 140 disk array, and thus the water is not discharged. Therefore, the liquid pump 140 does not pump water and idles.

Further, in the dehumidification mode, the cooling element 150 is operated to freeze water included in the suctioned external air so as to reduce humidity of the suctioned air. The suctioned air is re-discharged to the outside through the gas pump 120 while the humidity is lowered.

In this case, the sensor 160 may further include a dew condensation sensor for measuring a freezing level of dew formed in the cooling element 150. When the freezing level measured by the dew condensation sensor is lower than a predetermined freezing level, the controller 170 freezes the moisture in the air on the cooling element 150 by allowing a current to flow to the cooling element 150 in a forward direction. Further, when the freezing level measured by the dew condensation sensor is higher than the predetermined freezing level, the controller allows a current to flow in a reverse direction and re-melts the water frozen in the cooling element 150 so as to supply the water which is frozen in the water tank 130.

Further, the air cleaner may further include a sterilizing part 180 for sterilizing the water in the water tank 130 or the cooling element 150. The sterilizing part 180 generates hydrogen and a small amount of ozone by performing electrolysis on the water, thereby sterilizing the water.

The sterilizing part 180 may sterilize water by being operated regardless of whether the gas pump 120 and the liquid pump 140 are operated. That is, the sterilizing part 180 may simultaneously sterilize water when the gas pump 120 and the liquid pump 140 are operated and may sterilize water while the gas pump 120 and the liquid pump 140 are not operated and air is not purified.

The sterilizing part 180 may be, for example, a non-diaphragm titanium electrode plate. An electrode plated with platinum on a titanium plate, on which ellipses of the same size are arranged in predetermined distances, is used for a predetermined time as a positive or negative electrode without a diaphragm in a replacement manner such that water is electrolyzed, and thus a module in which hydrogen and little ozone are generated may be used.

The sterilizing part 180 may be, for another example, a hydrogen patch. The hydrogen patch includes an insulating resin 181 formed in a lateral direction and a platinum wire 182 formed in a vertical direction and woven with the insulating resin 181. In this case, the transverse direction and the vertical direction may be switched.

The sterilizing part 180 may be, in still another example, a hydrogen generating device. The hydrogen generating device sterilizes water using hydrogen bubbles generated when the water is electrolyzed.

The hydrogen generating device includes, for example, an electrolysis electrode part, a porous ceramic catalyst, and a resistance value sensor. The electrolysis electrode part electrolyzes and sterilizes water which is in contact with a hydrogen generating device. The porous ceramic catalyst absorbs ozone generated in an electrolysis process to reduce harmfulness. The resistance value sensor measures a resistance value of water and a concentration of electrolyte dissolved in the water and transfers the resistance value of water and the concentration of electrolyte to the controller 170.

The controller 170 may adjust time for changing and applying a voltage according to the received resistance value.

In this case, the sensor 160 may further include a turbidity sensor for measuring a pollution level of the water tank 130 or the cooling element 150. When the result value measured by the water turbidity sensor is higher than a predetermined pollution level, the controller 170 may operate the hydrogen-generating device until the result value is lower than the predetermined pollution level.

The air cleaner 100 may further include a display part 190. The display part 190 may be, for example, a light-emitting diode (LED) for emitting red, blue, and green colors. The display part 190 may emit different colors according to a state of external air measured by the sensor.

For example, the display part 190 may display a yellow color when humidity of external air is higher than a predetermined value, may display a red color when a pollution level of external air is higher than a predetermined value, and may display a green color when humidity and a pollution level of external air is lower than a predetermined value.

Further, the display part 190 may display states of the air cleaner 100 or external air as well as the LED. The display part 190 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) but is not limited thereto.

The exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, but the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described specific embodiments. It should be recognized that modifications and changes made by those skilled in the art based on a basic concept of the present invention defined in the appended claims pertain to the scope of the present invention. 

1. An air cleaner comprising: a housing including a suction portion through which external air is suctioned and a discharge portion through which the suctioned air is discharged; a filter disposed between the suction portion and the discharge portion and configured to purify the suctioned air; a gas pump connected with the discharge portion and configured to rotate so as to discharge the air purified by the filter to the discharge portion; and a controller configured to control a rotation direction of the gas pump, wherein the gas pump includes: a rotor including a gas pump base disk disposed in and rotatably supported by the housing, a gas pump disk array in which segment disks having an open center area are disposed on the gas pump base disk to be spaced apart from each other, and a rotor magnet installed on the gas pump base disk; and a stator including a stator coil disposed in the housing and installed to face the rotor magnet.
 2. The air cleaner of claim 1, further comprising: a water tank configured to store water; and a liquid pump connected with the same rotating shaft as the gas pump to be rotated in the same direction as the gas pump and configured to suction the water from the water tank and spray the water onto the disk array when the gas pump rotates in a forward direction and not to spray the water onto the disk array when the gas pump rotates in a reverse direction.
 3. The air cleaner of claim 2, wherein the liquid pump includes: a liquid pump housing including an outlet formed to face a forward rotation direction of the gas pump; a liquid pump base disk disposed in the liquid pump housing and connected with the same shaft as the gas pump to be rotatably supported by the liquid pump housing; and a liquid pump disk array in which segment disks spaced apart from each other and having an open center area are stacked on the liquid pump base disk.
 4. The air cleaner of claim 2, further comprising a sensor configured to measure a temperature or humidity of external air, wherein the controller is operated in a humidification mode in which air with a high moisture content is discharged by rotating the gas pump in the forward direction when the humidity of external air measured by the sensor is lower than a predetermined humidity range and is operated in a dehumidification mode in which air with a low moisture content is discharged by rotating the gas pump in the reverse direction when the humidity of external air measured by the sensor is higher than the predetermined humidity range.
 5. The air cleaner of claim 2, further comprising a cooling element disposed between the suction portion and the discharge portion and configured to cool moisture in the air being suctioned or heat the cooled moisture according to a direction of a current flow applied from the controller.
 6. The air cleaner of claim 5, further comprising a dew condensation sensor configured to measure a freezing level of dew formed in the cooling element, wherein the controller is configured to freeze moisture in the air by allowing a current to flow to the cooling element in a forward direction when the freezing level measured by the dew condensation sensor is lower than a predetermined freezing level and re-melt the frozen moisture by allowing a current to flow to the cooling element in a reverse direction when the freezing level measured by the dew condensation sensor is higher than the predetermined freezing level.
 7. The air cleaner of claim 5, further comprising a sterilizing part connected with the water tank or the cooling element and configured to sterilize water by electrolyzing the water in the water tank or the cooling element.
 8. The air cleaner of claim 7, further comprising a water turbidity sensor configured to measure a pollution level of the water tank or the cooling element, wherein the controller operates the sterilizing part when turbidity measured by the water turbidity sensor is higher than a predetermined turbidity. 